The second scramble for Africa

Greatness starts from the mind and not from without. It cannot be taught.  Many African leaders find it hard to dare their colonial masters and break free from their stranglehold.  Many of them cannot provide internal security and fight insurrections without efforts from foreign allies.

What is wrong with Africa? Africa is a continent with almost half of the world’s natural resources; Africa has no major natural disasters; it has arable lands. Many African leaders are lazy and lack vision and hence have vowed to take over all of the economic affairs of Africa. Many leaders in Africa are despotic; they defy public opinion, and clamp down on the opposition. State assets are gradually being handed over to in exchange for debt relief.

In Nigeria, the case is no different. China exports close to 300 million shoes to Nigeria annually. Her textiles in-country successfully destroyed the Nigerian textile industry. It is a common feature to see Chinese people selling textile materials in many markets in Nigeria. This can never happen in China. Our local content policies appear to be for the oil and gas sector only.

China is the second richest country in the world after the United States of America and is desirous to reclaim most countries in Africa and restore the prestige she once had in the 10th century A.D

I remember when Robert Mugabe ran into financial straits due to the sanctions from the United States of America and other European nations as a fallout from his land grab of white owned farmlands; China intervened by offering loans to Mugabe but exerted a stiff price from him by ensuring that he used some of his strategic domestic assets as collateral for their loans.

Many African countries have bowed to Chinese pressure to use their domestic assets as collateral for Chinese loans. Colonialisation started with the establishment of trading posts on the coast of African countries for economic purposes.

The second scramble for Africa will leave the continent with no soul if leaders in Africa do not develop the continent for the benefit of Africans first and then the rest of the world: a very difficult project indeed.

Simon Abah,

@abahsimon1

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